Whether it be bass fishing or catching crappie, it seems every tournament is won using a “secret” bait. The only problem is that every single win comes from different secret baits.

The top five finishes in each tournament were using probably five different colors or baits, yet each team thinks they have the secret to catching fish. It almost undermines your talent and ability to find and somehow trigger fish to bite. It wasn’t a secret bait or color, I promise you.

I do believe that there are times when color selection truly does matter, but believing that a piece of glitter or a different color tail made all the difference is crazy. I don’t think Crappie put quite as much thought into bait color as we do. Think about what it looks like down 15′ in dirty water. That fish is looking for food — not a pretty color to wear to a dance. They need to be able to see it and that is where color comes in. You need certain colors in muddy water like pink, black, orange, chart, etc.

In clear water you will need your whites, silver, brown and can get away with chart as well. There will always be a few exceptions, but I promise you that you do not need 100 different colors to go about catching Crappie.

I use a pink head and a jig body that will always have a chart tail. The body usually has green, blue, black, brown, orange or white in it. That’s about it. I use a 3/16 ounce head 99 percent of the time and actually go heavier when I am in deeper water or slowly moving and need to cover water. The finding and triggering can be tough but don’t over complicate the bait part.

I have heard stories where a guy was fishing and thought that they would only bite a certain jig color with a certain line color in 30′ of water. He got fooled by randomness. That fish just decided at that time to bite. You can get fooled more than once and is still not a pattern. Try a different color one day and you will see that it will most likely catch as many fish.

There is nothing wrong with having tons of different jig, and it is fun to buy and try them all out. I have several friends that make jigs and they make a million different colors. Just don’t sell yourself short and think you will win or lose a tournament based on jig color.

When I go to a new lake I never ask, “What color are they biting?” I don’t care. I want to know how deep are they, what kind of cover are they relating to? I can figure out in 20 minutes the colors they will bite. I bet they will bite a pink head with a lime/chart body!

Get out there and find some brush piles, stake beds and stump rows and drop a big ol jig in there and feel the slam of a monster Crappie on an ACC Crappie Stix fishing rod. You will feel the difference very quickly. Thanks for reading and take those kids fishing. Andy.